Guard dogs needed to save Australian penguin colony

Penguins on the island - found just off Warrnambool on Australia's south coast - have been protected by two Maremma guard dogs every summer since 2006 as part of the Middle Island Maremma Project, run by members of the Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group, Warrnambool City Council, Deakin University and the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village, where the dogs currently live.

The initiative was launched following a dramatic decline in the breeding population in 2005, when it was found to have dropped from 800 penguins in 1999 to less than 10 by 2005. The drop was said to be primarily due to attacks by foxes, the largest of which resulted in the death of 380 birds on the island, including penguins and Shearwaters.

Eudy and Tula Photo: warrnamboolpenguins.com.au

As the two eight-year-old Maremmas face retirement soon, a crowdfunding campaign has been set up with a hope to raise $25,000 to buy, train and look after two new Maremma puppies to replace Eudy and Tula. The money raised would also help support the work of more than 6,000 volunteers currently helping out with the project.

Middle Island has been closed to the public since 2006 in an effort to also protect the penguins, and their chicks and eggs, from human trampling and any other harmful intrusions. Those who wish to visit the island are able to book a ‘Meet the Maremma Tour’ between December and April for a rare glimpse of the island and the dogs in their work place as well as to learn more about the project and work be0ing done. Access to the island is prohibited outside the tours, which can be booked through the project's website.

"We see tourism as a key element in making the project sustainable in the longer term and the current crowd funding campaign we are running is a good example of how well managed sustainable tourism interest can support the aims of the environmental program," Peter Abbott, manager of tourism services at Warrnambool City Council, told Telegraph Travel.

The current guardian dogs, Eudy and Tula, will work for two more summers, during which they will help train the new puppies.

"Our experience shows the best dogs are the ones we buy as puppies and get them to see the island as young as possible. They will then quickly learn that the island is their home and start bonding with the normal animals (penguins and Mutton Birds) as well as understand they will come and go to the island as part of their normal life" Mr Abbott told Telegraph Travel.

A penguin on Middle Island Photo: warrnamboolpenguins.com.au

Since the arrival of Eudy and Tula, the island has seen a growth of penguins through the breeding season, with a current estimated population of around 150. The main work of the dogs is said to involve barking at anything that approaches the penguins, according to Mr Abbott.

“The colony really was on its last legs and just one more fox attack would’ve finished it off – it really was a smorgasbord for foxes there,” he told Guardian Australia.

“We train them [the dogs] that the island is theirs – 90 per cent of their work is through barking,” Mr Abbott said. “But if they did get on to a fox they’d kill it.”

The first initiative of its kind, the Middle Island Maremma Project also inspired Oddball, a new film out now about guard dogs which is based on the project.